Storyteller
I’m the actress who moved to the woods. After years in the theatre sector I followed the longing for nature and based myself in rural West Wales. Immersed in a magical, mythical landscape I tend to work with site-specific stories that come to life in co-creation with the land. Despite a great love for myth and legend, it is these original stories that have become my main craft. Stories told for a specific time and place, sometimes never to be shared again.
Many things can become a seed of a story; an occasion, a place or someone sharing their life experience. In this way I craft stories for different settings and audiences. I hold regular storytelling ceremonies on the land where I live, working with the seasons and using stories to help us experience our interconnectedness with the cycle of the year.
With freelance storytelling commissions I focus on location and occasion, bringing the story that can serve a particular audience the best. Or I weave personal medicine stories, for birthdays, rites of passage or other personal ceremonies. A story inspired by someone’s lived experience, coming to life to help integrate, deepen or celebrate their journey.
Commissioned site specific stories
I work in close relationship with the landscape in which I live, in which a lot of the storytelling I do takes place but I also craft commissioned site specific stories for any location. This often means spending time in the intended place/location, “listening” for the story that wants to come through. It can also be done through having an in depth conversation with somebody with a strong relationship to the place.
Commissioned stories can be a beautiful and meaningful way to engage with a specific audience, to celebrate a place or community or to collectively process events or incidents that have taken place there.
Site specific stories can be told for rural as well as urban environments, inside and outside, focusing on the Land or its People. The craft lies in tapping into the reality of the place and letting that reality seem into the archetypal world of imagination. There it dissolves, before taking form as something new.
Watch this video to hear about my process with creating an original, site specific story for Oxford Storytelling Festival
A gift of a story
Would you like to gift someone a personal medicine story? A story based on their experience or interest? I craft commissioned stories, sprung from personal experiences yet with their own life and tale. To receive a personal story can be an incredibly beautiful and at times cathartic experience. Working intuitively with the information I receive, I create a story that is in dialog with the lived experience. Through archetypal imagery, it has the power to find its way into one’s being and touch things within in powerful and often unexpected ways. Personal stories can also be fun and beautiful ways to celebrate and honour someone’s journey or new chapter, having the flavour and energy that feels right for you.
To create a story I would either hold an interview with the person who the story is for or (if it is to be a surprise) a conversation with you, discussing the themes you would like the story to include. Of course, it is also perfectly possible to gift a medicine story to yourself! The story would then be delivered in either written form, recorded or told live in person, depending on your wishes. Live telling can also be combined with ceremonial elements, creating a storytelling ceremony that can take the work with the story even deeper.
Prices:
Written or recorded medicine story………………………………………………………from £200
In person storytelling……………………………………………………...……………….…from £300
In person storytelling with ceremony………………………………….………………..from £380
Story and ceremony
For me stories are the perfect lead into a ceremony, and ceremonies the perfect way to integrate a story. So often stories can move things inside which mere logical reasoning could never reach. Ceremony can be an amazing way to intentionally work with that which the story has moved in us and direct it where it needs to go.
A storytelling ceremony can be both deep and joyous, including elements such as fire ceremonies for intention setting, guided meditations or more simple things such as a song, or a ceremonial walk on the land. Maybe simply a moment to reflect and an opportunity to share (or not) with others. Whatever it is, it should be tailored to suit the intended audience’s needs. Giving them the best opportunity to experience the full magic and power of Story.
'Solstice to Solstice - a storytelling journey with the land'
Solstice to Solstice are regular storytelling events held in the Clydach Valley, outside Newport in North Pembrokeshire. Through coming together at the eight Celtic annual festivals in the Wheel of the Year, these celebrations put us back in tune with the turning of the seasons. Being both fun, ceremonial and community forming, they are a way to connect to the land around us and to take a step closer to living in sync with the earth. These festivals belong to these lands and to make it accessible for anyone to take part in celebrating them, the events are carried out on a donation basis.
Generally held on the Friday evening closest to the calendar holiday: Samhain (31st Oct), Yule (Winter Solstice, 21st Dec), Imbolc (1st Feb), Ostara (Spring Equinox, 20th March), Beltane (1st May), Litha (Summer Solstice, 21st June), Lammas/Lughnasah (1st Aug) and Mabon (Autumn Equinox, 20th September).
To receive information about the upcoming event, please get in touch.
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Storytelling ceremony
“The story you told… It’s like you wrote it for me. It was so extraordinary.”
- Vaishnavi
"Such a fine, meaningful story! Well channelled! Thank you"
- Faith
"THANK YOU so much. That was a profound story. So much depth, such important subject matter, thank you for bringing it through."
- Jason
"Amanda .. seems to me that your story was spot on perfect for us all… and what a lead into the fire jumping …away from the old story and into the unknown. .. together. WOW!"
- Belinda
"It was a truly nourishing and inspirational evening. Thank you Amanda for your inspired leadership and story."
- Tony