What if there is more than one interpretation of a story? What if fairy tale are not stories at all but remnants of corrupted histories? What if the wrong person is rescued?

The Not-So-Enchanted Princess

An old Lincolnshire Folktale newly spoken in the Rutland countryside

The Buried Moon at Summer Solstice

The Witch's Hat

Queen Cobra And The Boy

The Faerytale Apothecary returns after a Venetian Sabbatical with Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Courage Tea with an experimental journey following the Medicine Trails left by Words from selected Stories.
The recordings will often times be messy unedited affairs that seek to include all natural languages into the conversations.
Other humans will be invited to gather our good weather gear for the trip from time to time.
Individual Words will be our doors to inner landscapes.
There will be Spontaneous Stories making Guest Appearances.
We will explore what it may mean to be Touched by a Story.
We will welcome Ordinary Story Tellings
We will Gather Glitterings in our Baskets as we make our way.
All served with a drop of tea created by Wild Hearts

A WIld Heart Tea of Courage

The Faerytale Apothecary returns after a Venetian Sabbatical with Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Queenliness Tea with an experimental journey following the Medicine Trails left by Words from selected Stories.
The recordings will often times be messy unedited affairs that seek to include all natural languages into the conversations.
Other humans will be invited to gather our good weather gear for the trip from time to time.
Individual Words will be our doors to inner landscapes.
There will be Spontaneous Stories making Guest Appearances.
We will explore what it may mean to be Touched by a Story.
We will welcome Ordinary Story Tellings
We will Gather Glitterings in our Baskets as we make our way.
All served with a drop of tea created by Wild Hearts

A Wild Heart sipping Queenliness Tea

The Faerytale Apothecary's Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Tea is an experimental affair seeking to follow the Medicine Trails left by Words from Specially Appearing Stories. The recordings will often times be messy unedited affairs that aim to include all the languages from all the peoples (regardless of species or corporeality) into the conversations. There will be no written transcripts, simply an offer to sit a while, listen and see where you might be taken, prompted, curiosly led to. Other humans will be invited to gather our good weather gear for the trip from time to time. Our starting point may sometimes shift in location but home will always be with That Which Dwells Beyond The Gap In The Old Stone Wall - the creative space for my ongoing Doctoral Research. Research which will no doubt pop in on occasion too. Individual Words will be our doors to inner (and perhaps sometimes outer) landscapes. There will be Spontaneous Stories making Guest Appearances. We will explore what it may mean to be Touched by a Story. We will welcome Ordinary Story Speakings. We will Gather Glitterings in our Baskets as we make our way. All served up about once during a month with a drop of tea crafted by a Wild Heart or two. To listen to the gathering, simply press play...

A Wild Heart Sipping Curiosity Tea

As part of the Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Tea series, it was with utter delight that I followed a trail set down by The Faerytale Apothecary's very first human co-conspirator.
Issa (pronounced eeeesssa)is a priestess, chaos witch, and wise woman of a certain age. During the day she works as a staff wellbeing expert for the civil service, making sure people get a fair deal at work. She also leads staff pagan networks so people can come together and share their faith and love of the earth. She holds the space where people need to be and holds the people when the space is too big for them. She is a daughter, a mum, and a grandma, who enjoys travelling Britain with her tiny caravan.
Join us on a most marvelous adventure!

Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Whisker Tea

In the Faerytale Apothecary's second experimentation with intentionally pinning down other co-conspirators, I am most proud to offer up the debut Medicine Trail of my little sister.  
Saoirse is a caring, kind, and loving Animal Listener. As a Witch, she makes a wonderment of Lotions 'n' Potions to help both people and animals, but mostly animals.
Another co-conspirator made it very clear that nothing could happen without them, so it is with a twinkle of mischief that I also welcome you to the magics, medicines and disruptions of Venice...

Wild Hearts Sipping a Different Kind of Courage Tea

In our third of the Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Tea series, I followed a trail set down by The Faerytale Apothecary's friend, teacher, and fellow story carrier Sarah Mooney. Sarah works with myth as a way of remembering herself and the cosmos. She believes  our ancestors seeded all that we needed to flourish within a story,  sometimes in the silences between the words, sometimes in the way the  story invites us to listen. She lives in Glastonbury.
Press play, and come with us, if you dare...

Wild Hearts Sipping Cups of Bone Marrow Tea

It is with humbleness that I share the insightful and inspiring transmission that came from my dear friend Leah Barnes this month. Leah and I met through Annapurna Living many years ago as part of their women's collective.
Starting around age 5, Leah wanted to be Wonder Woman, but with a better outfit. She might have even used a jump rope as a golden lasso in attempts to make her younger sister tell the truth....evidence of her strong desire to learn and know. She's still a big sister and eldest daughter, but also a mother and wife; still craving knowledge and wanting to save the day for the people she loves, but learning to journey for herself in new ways too. 
On one of her trips to India she learned about Sheroes Hangout -- an organization fighting for the rights and recovery of acid attack victims through advocacy and cafes staffed by survivors. 
Instagram @sheroes_hangout

Wild Hearts Sipping a Tea of Mud & Lotus

A Story for the Covid in the Human

Our first Tea Trail of 2024 is conjured into being by the remarkable Shamanic Medicine Woman Carina Johansson. She follows the path of the Völva and lives in the forest of Söderåsen in the south of Sweden where she teaches Shamanism and Seidr.
I first met Carina when I traveled to Sweden many years ago for a training in Shamanic Counselling with SCSS. Despite the deep insights that came through being partnered with her for the work, it is perhaps the laughter and unconditional friendship that I remember most from those times.
If you wish to know more about Carina and the individual client work and courses she is offering, please contact her by her email: carina_gillastig@live.se.
Join us in the undeniable magic of a healed heart.

A Wild Tea of Healed Hearts

Our Imbolc Tea Trail is a rich and potent offering with the frankly fantastic Story-Carrier Tracy Chipman. I was blessed with meeting Tracy at the very first Oxford Storytelling Festival in a red tent overflowing with inspiration, creativity, far lands and magicks.

Tracy Chipman weaves the ancient rivers of oral storytelling, writing and somatic practices, creating unforgettable experiences that invite us towards mythic awareness, more embodied experiences, and self-discovery. She now resides in northern Wisconsin, occupying the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe Peoples. In March 2023, Tracy published her first book, Borealis Mundi - Resting in Place, Loss & Grace. Please visit her website, www.tracychipman.net, to learn more about her work. Or find her on social media:  IG @all.here.dwell.free FB @storyteller Tracy Chipman

Press play to join us on a most wondrous medicine trail...

Wild Hearts Sipping Dwelling Free Tea

Calling us in for the Spring New Moon is a Tea Tale Trail set down with the delightful Rutland celebrity Alison Stead

Alison is a Spiritual Medium, fellow writer, and intuitive.
Her contact links can all be accessed via her Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/alisonstead_spiritualmedium?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=5a9e1534-0ec4-472c-a6ee-4037cc60bec6

Press play to join us for a cup of tea, for sometimes a cup of tea is exactly the medicine we need...

Wild Hearts Sipping Hope Eternal Tea

I am honoured that my first 'human' shamanic teacher Willow agreed to be a co-conspirator for our newest medicine trail. The foundations of all my Spirit Work are grounded in my year-long one-to-one training and continuing friendship with her. It is a juicy treat indeed that she wove for us, and one I am eager to encourage you to see what would happen if the shoe or boot did fit...
Willow is a Shaman, a Hedgewitch, Tree Witch, a Wisewoman and Druid. She is also a Shamanic Teacher of Healing and the Old Ways.
Willow loves nothing more than to be deep in the mysterious Wildwoods connecting to ancient Ancestors and the magic and mystery. She is a Mother of 2 and Grandmother of 6...who delight in her magical nighttime fairy tales! You can find out more about her on her website -www.shamanicwillow.co.uk

Wild Hearts Sipping Crooked Headstone Tea

It is fair to say that this moon cycle's co-creator is one of the key instigators of The Faerytale Apothecary. In an arts hostel of a bewildering Marrakech several years ago, Damian saw something in my, frankly not that great, telling of an old Lincolnshire folktale The Buried Moon. Over the years he has gently nudged me in my story work and this is something I will forever be grateful to him for.

Damian Draven is an Irish designer in the TV & film industry. He is also a film director, contemporary artist and exhibiting member of the RGA (Reading Guild of Artists). As a journeyman he takes great inspiration and perspective from his travels for which he cites ‘Momentum is king because inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone but the trick is to look behind the curtain for a different narrative, a different energy...’.

Damian’s work can be found here www.instagram.com/damian_draven

Wild Hearts Sipping Cups Of I'm Listening Tea

It is such a deep honour to have co-created with the incredibly talented Vicki Burke this moon cycle. I first worked with Vicki when we created a Selkie Deep Dive journey together, still one of my most cherished points of making.
Vicki began her life journey as a musician, a saxophonist and teacher. Vicki began her life journey as a musician, a saxophonist and teacher. Just before the millennium she had a beautiful awakening that opened her like a flower and her creative journey began to blossom.  She discovered the art of healing using both sound and energy. At first she used her voice for sound healing. Then she received a healing that healed a creative block she wasn't even aware of and she began to write songs. This led her to the harp. 
As she continued to say ‘yes’ to the universal guidance she received, she realised she was being asked to find her voice. She also knew she was being fully supported in this. 
She started with the spoken word, as a storyteller, creating journeys with her songs for harp and voice. Then she discovered herself as an author and playwright. Finding her singing voice, she believed, was the most challenging for her until she realised she was being asked to speak for the feminine, for the part of ourselves that has been repressed for eons. 
The song she sings for this particular story, ‘A Girl Blowing a Bugle’ was written after she discovered her Sabian Symbol (an aspect of astrology) for her Pisces Sun was ‘Summons, a girl blowing a bugle’. It has taken her over a decade to discover the full meaning of what this is asking of her. And yet, there is probably still much more to learn.
We invite you to join us with a brew and listen as she shares what happened to her when Elizabeth Jane first asked her to bring a story here…
Please visit her website, www.keystothegoldencity.com
or listen to her songs and stories www.vickiburke.bandcamp.com or find her on social media

Wild Hearts Sipping Cups Of Singing For Freedom Tea

Who says bedtime stories have to just be for children!
A sincere, beautiful, honest to goodness tale to soothe the soul, take time out for, to heal and nourish.

The White Doe And The King

An introduction to the Faerytale Apothecary.

The Apothecary And Apothecarist

What does it mean for me to work with Story in a Ceremonial Way?
The first of a few little recordings exploring this question.

Story As Ceremony

Riffing on what exactly Story as Medicine might mean

Story As Medicine

One of three short shudders of story for Samhain.
Be careful how you relate to work colleagues...

Haunted

One of three short shudders of story for Samhain.
Always carry remember your torch...

Someone Is Whistling

A reading of the Brothers Grimm version of the story of Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin

A New Moon Riffing on how Myth can support us in these difficult times with a reminder of repeating cycles, of journeying into the unknown and making it out again.

Blog

The Memories of a Myth

Riffing on the idea of fairy tales as more than simply gorgeous bedtime stories for children but as deeply therapeutic containers for adults and teaching tales for all.

The Infirmary Posts

The Story Nest

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

The Ugly Duckling

Where exactly do the stories that make up our being originate, how many of the tales we carry around are not even technically ours, if not where do they come from and what do we do about it?

Infirmary

The Patchwork Story Skin

What if the King continually offering the Princess as Prize in fairytales could be read as the death of patriachy giving way to the restoration of the Sacred Inner Marriage; the trials of the Poor Suitor the Courtship of Yin and Yang?  How would that reconcile our view of the way women are treated in these stories?

The Infirmary

The Marriage Invitation

The story of the Lindworm is an old Norwegian Foktale that I have felt tap me on the shoulder over the last couple of weeks, with a curious nudge.  
"How would you see me differently if my genders were switched?"  it asked " what would I taste like if the Queen were a King and the sons were daughters?"  
Well?

Princess Lindworm

Increasingly our world demands more and more of us, not just our time but our essence, the core of who we are. What if there was another way to be? What if there was a remedy, a tincture of stories that could encourage us to take just a moment back, to close our eyes and remember when we sensed what was around us with awe and wonder, when we could smell and taste the magicks in the air. And what if in this stoppedness, this holding, we were also able to hear the whisperings, the longings of our hearts? 
What then? 
The Faerytale Apothecary is a place of Soul-Speaking, of stories as our teachers, healers, confidantes, that hold the lost parts of us & remind us of marvellousness.   
Honest, true, sincere even if sometimes it is a little rough around the edges, unrehearsed, unplanned, always joyous in it's spontaneity. 
If you have enjoyed the stories and would like to buy me a cup of tea, please hit the Benefaction button at the bottom of the website, or if you would like to subscribe to hear more original tales sent straight to your inbox, or donate to a story in aid of a good course you can find them shyly waiting in the pages too  - and thank you, it really is appreciated.
www.thefaerytaleapothecary.com

The Faerytale Apothecary

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