Through the years I have experienced the magic of books and of
reading stories. Those stories took me to worlds unknown where I met mystical
creatures and my imagination took flight. Little did I know that the same exact
magic was happening in my household and everywhere I went when stories were
being told to me by others. I was
learning, I was exploring, I was being guided by stories, but I didn’t realize
it.
It wasn’t until college when I learned that what was
happening was the art of oral storytelling. Taking the first class, and now the
second one, I’ve started learning that the magic was within the people in the
circle – between the listener, the teller, and the story. My Art of
Storytelling teacher, Marilyn Torres, explained that part of the magic is that
sometimes the story chooses the teller.
It does take time and effort and we have to go through many stories
in order to find the right one. And when you find it, you know it. It feels right.
It is the right match for you, and all
you can do is be eager to tell that story. I am pretty new at this art form but
I had stumbling moments and learning experiences when the story was the one in
charge.
I had one experience when two Greek goddesses where fighting
within me to be told. The story of Persephone and the story of Psyche are both
amazing but I had to choose the right one to tell to the class. Not knowing how
or who to choose, I went to my instructors. Their advice was to let myself be
guided by the goddesses and to listen to the story, and when that happened I
was able to tell the story to the right class, and as the story came out the
magic was felt. That magic was the synergy
between me, the story, and my listeners!
The image at the top of the post can be found here: http://musetracks.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/storyteller.jpg
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