My open blog for people who want to read my books,articles, and any other things that I might produce, keep track of storytelling engagements, listen to my less demented rantings, and generally play nice (or naughty, I'm easy... as is widely known).
Snow Maiden
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A little light froth for the winter season with a Russian story. Last day of lecturing before the Christmas holidays for me (a productive conference on the ethics of substance misuse - which has stimulated a lot of thought for me, hearing what the other speakers had to say). I may write more on that later, thinking of an animist ethos in drug use (which was largely the angle that I spoke on). It was lovely catching up with people that I used to work with a decade back.
This story is one version (there are several) of the Snow Maiden Snegurochka, and her adventures with Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost. This version is the one that Ostrovsky worked into a play and Rimsky-Korsakov later converted into a popular opera. Love sometimes comes at a high cost, as this take indicates. Old Moroz strikes me as a far more interesting figure than the western Santa Claus.
I was asked to conduct the funeral of a Wiccan lady, which took place this afternoon. The family had chosen a number of poems, including this excerpt from Percy Shelley's 'Adonais'. I've recorded it here because it is a beautiful piece and it might well be useful for anyone else who might be organising a funeral for a pagan or a pantheist at some point and need inspiration.
My reading of Harlan Ellison's dark short story "Hitler Painted Roses", which appeared in his anthology Strange Wine (1978). It has a rather bleak view of the Afterlife and our fates. Thought this would be a suitable entry for the Halloween season. This is a trial use of my new microphone and a different format for storytelling - so people can just listen and don't need to look at my face! If this seems to be a popular format, I will record more stories as just audio without any visual element. It's all new ground for me, so see how it plays out. The intro/exit music and artwork was created by my friend Jay Chooi who understands these things (I certainly don't!).
A few reflections on the archetype of the Dark Father for the monthly discussion of the Suffolk Jungian Circle. If you would like to join in the virtual discussion, let me know and I will send you the link (Wednesday 27th November at 7.30pm).
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