Restorying the Earth

Fiona MacLeod: Stories As Pathways to Peace

storylistening — Environment, Social Change, and Story

I caught up with Fiona MacLeod, a storyteller from Brittany, France, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre where she was storyteller in residence for the month of February. While in Scotland she facilitated a workshop on Contemplation, Story and Pathways to Peace as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace. In this, the first part of a two-part interview, I ask Fiona about her experience of stories and storytelling as pathways to peace.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre
The Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace

Once Upon a Universe

Last night I debuted on stage at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in front of a sell-out crowd as part of the Once Upon a Universe project. Performing in front of a large audience, obscured by lighting, was nerve-racking, exhilarating and ultimately a whole lot of fun. I was proud to have been a part of the event, which was organized by Josh Coppersmith-Heaven, and to have shared the stage with the band Sink, guest reader Nick, and a couple of the other writers and scientists from the project, Norman Gray and Helen Sedgwick.

I have told informally at storytelling cafes and I have done many small group sessions with children and adults, but this was my first time actually stepping out onto a stage. I started to get nervous as people poured in, filling the seats of the Netherbow Theatre, but I kept reminding myself that all I had to do was to get out of the way of the story. As soon as it was my turn, I stood up, my nervousness fell away and all that was left was the telling.

I told the story “The Giant QUOFs and the Expansion on of the Universe”, which I developed last April at the Galloway Astronomy Centre. Josh organized that weekend, bringing together eight cosmologists and writers to collaborate in developing creation stories based on the latest scientific findings.

More information about our adventures in the strange world of cosmology, along with the stories themselves, can be found on the website: onceuponauniverse.com.

The project was funded by The Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Another Storytelling Festival Has Been and Gone

One of the central events of the year for any lover of stories in Edinburgh (or indeed from further afield) is the annual Scottish International Storytelling Festival put on by the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This year linked Scottish tellers with Mediterranean ones, with an emphasis on island stories. For me, the highlights of this festival were:

Hearing the story of Julia Butterfly Hill’s 2-years on the giant redwood Luna in California told by Enedina Sanna in Sardinian, followed by an English version by Linda Williamson. This inspiring true story, which has also been published in the young adult book “The Legacy of Luna”, formed part of my own PhD work into how people use story to tie themselves to place and to make ethical decisions in relation to the environment. Enedina emphasised that it is just as important to tell contemporary stories of heroism as it is to tell the myths of old gods. I take heart that there are lovers of trees all over the world telling their stories.

Hearing the entirety of Homer’s The Odyssey told by seventeen talented tellers from Scotland and the Mediterannean. I mean, how often do you get the chance to participate in a 3000 year old storytelling tradition? The Odyssey was told over two three hour sessions on Saturday, so it was quite the commitment of time and attention, but thoroughly worth it.

What I will take away from the festival are the words of Geoff Mead, paraphrased from his new book “Coming Home to Story: Storytelling Beyond Happy Ever After”: The role of a storyteller is to be of service to the story and to help that story be of service to the re-enchanting of this world.