Living Story Project
LSP Archives
Walking Yourself Home: A Therapeutic Group for Women in Search of Self
Oct 6, 2025
Open source image of Little Red Riding Hood
Forever, women have been expected to prioritize the needs, wants, desires, and priorities of others at the expense of Self. It is not surprising, therefore, that many women report not knowing who they are or whose life they are living.
Walking Yourself Home: A Therapeutic Group for Women in Search of Self is an 8-month, structured group designed for women who have dedicated their lives to the service of others at expense of their own growth, identity, and well-being. This group is divided into a series of 8 modules with themes being explored through the lens of Little Red Riding Hood that support insight, boundary development, and relationship healing with Self and others.
Guided by the Tale of Little Red Riding Hood, we will be exploring the following themes:
Month 1 – Entering the Forest: The Fog of Forgetting
Theme: Losing touch with the Self
Reflecting on early signs we’ve lost touch with ourselves
Understanding the journey ahead as one of remembering and returning.
Month 2 – The Cloak: Who Did I Have to Become?
Theme: The roles and personas we put on
Exploring identity shaped by others’ needs and expectations
Introducing the idea of false self, versus authentic self
Month 3 – The Basket: Carrying What’s Not Ours
Theme: Emotional caretaking and over-responsibility
Noticing the burdens we’ve carried for others
Differentiating between compassion and self-erasure
Month 4 – The Wolf: The Mask of Charm and Danger
Theme: Losing self in relationships with manipulative or overpowering figures
Recognizing relational dynamics that lead to self-abandonment
Exploring the allure of being needed, chosen, or praised
Month 5 – Talking to Strangers: Betraying the Inner Voice
Theme: Ignoring our intuition
When and why we override our gut knowing
Cultivating self-trust again
Month 6 – Arriving at the Cottage: The Quiet Danger of Familiar Places
Theme: Confusion in relationships that feel like “home”
Understanding how loss of Selfhood often begins in early relationships
Naming what “safe” has meant — and challenging it
Month 7 – The Woodsman: Remembering We Can Be Rescued (By Ourselves)
Theme: Reclaiming agency
Naming external supports and internal strength
Recognizing that the true “rescuer” is our own reawakening
Month 8 – The Return: Walking Herself Home
Theme: Integrating the journey and honoring Selfhood
Reflecting on the journey
Celebrating reconnection with the Self
Naming intentions for sustaining self-loyalty
One in-person, two-hour workshop per month for eight consecutive months.
Interactive Exercises: Participate in creative writing and art-making activities, group discussions, and storytelling sessions to deepen your understanding.
Resource Materials: Receive exercises, reading lists, and access to online resources to support your journey in the time between in-person sessions.
Supportive Community: Join a community of like-minded individuals sharing insights and building meaningful connections.
Benefits of Attending:
Name and reclaim lost or denied aspects of Self
Cultivate a deeper sense of purpose and direction.
Overcome personal obstacles and embrace your authentic self.
Finding connections with others on a similar journey.
Create a roadmap for on-going Self discovery
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Dates:
Monday, October 6th, 2025
Monday, November 3rd, 2025
Monday, December 1st, 2025
Monday, January 12th, 2026
Monday, February 9th, 2026
Monday, March 9th, 2026
Monday, April 6th, 2026
Monday, May 11th, 2026
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Location: Living Story Project 1071 McMillan Ave. Winnipeg MB
Fees: $444.00
* This is a psychoeducational series that is designed to meet you in your own on-going process of self-discovery. It is not a substitute for proper psychotherapy. While participants will be invited to venture introspectively, it is each person’s responsibility to carefully tend to their own needs and wellbeing during this process. If you have questions about this, we encourage you to reach out prior to registering at livingstoryproject@gmail.com.
LSP Archives
Discover Your Personal Myth:
A 9-Month IN-PERSON Guided Workshop
Sep 23, 2024
Artwork courtesy of Jeanie Tomanek
www.jeanietomanek.com
Embark on a transformative journey with our 9-month guided workshop designed to help you uncover and embrace your personal myth. Through a blend of introspective exercises, storytelling, and creative exploration, you’l delve deep into the core of your being, discovering the unique narrative that helps illuminates your path toward meaning and purpose.
Month 1-2 – Origin and Identity
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Foundations of Self: Explore your beginnings and significant life events through guided meditations and reflective journaling.
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Symbols and Totems: Identify the personal symbols, objects, and animals that resonate with your inner self.
Month 3-4 – Guides and Quests
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Guiding Archetypes: Discover the guides and role models that inspire you and analyze their qualities.
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Personal Challenges: Map out your life’s major challenges and quests, uncovering the strengths and virtues you’ve developed.
Month 5-6 – Values and Transformation
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Core Values: Clarify the values and beliefs that form the bedrock of your actions and decisions.
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Transformative Experiences: Reflect on pivotal moments that have led to profound personal growth.
Month 7-8 – Purpose and Shadow
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Life’s Calling: Define your life’s purpose and the dreams that ignite your passion.
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Shadow Work: Confront and integrate your fears and insecurities, embracing your complete self.
Month 9 – Legacy and Integration
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Community and Relationships: Examine the roles you play in your community and how they shape your myth
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Creating Your Myth: Synthesize your discoveries into a coherent personal myth and explore ways to live it daily.
What to Expect:
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Monthly Sessions: Engage in one monthly IN-PERSON workshop for nine months.
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Interactive Exercises: Participate in creative activities, group discussions, and storytelling sessions to deepen your understanding.
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Resource Materials: Receive exercise, reading lists, and access to online resources to support your journey in the time between in-person sessions.
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Supportive Community: Join a community of individuals sharing insights and building meaningful connections.
Benefits of Attending:
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Gain profound self-awareness and clarity about your life’s path.
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Cultivate a deeper sense of purpose and direction.
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Overcome personal obstacles and embrace your authentic self.
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Finding connections with others on a similar journey.
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Create a lasting personal myth that guides and inspires you.
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Dates:
Monday, September 23rd, 2024
Monday, October 21st, 2024
Monday, November 18th, 2024
Monday, December 16th, 2024
Monday, January 20th, 2025
Monday, February 24th , 2025
Monday, March 24th, 2025
Monday, April 28th, 2024
Monday, May 26th, 2024
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Location: Living Story Project 1071 McMillan Ave. Winnipeg MB
Fees: $444.00
* This is a psychoeducational series that is designed to meet you in your own on-going process of self-discovery. It is not a substitute for proper psychotherapy. While participants will be invited to venture introspectively, it is each person’s responsibility to carefully tend to their own needs and wellbeing during this process. If you have questions about this, we encourage you to reach out prior to registering at livingstoryproject@gmail.com.
Wise Woman in Challenging Times: Enoughness
March 25, 2024
Art: Revolving House, 1921 by Paul Klee
What does it mean to have enough? What does it mean to be enough?
Wise Woman in Challenging times will be meeting at the Living Story Project house on March 25th at 7PM to dive into an exploration of how we discern enoughness in our lives and why it is meaningful to do so.
These monthly in-person, drop-in evenings of exploration are designed to help us get closer to what matters in challenging times. Participants can expect to journey introspectively though guided journal prompts with an open invitation to share stories and insights with others.
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Wise Woman in Challenging Times: Embrace Solitude
February 26, 2024
Artwork courtesy of Jeanie Tomanek
www.jeanietomanek.com
Solitude suggests the absence of distraction, an awareness of simple things otherwise lost in the usual hubbub of the ordinary. We can make time to stop and listen. The quieter we become, the more we can hear. In solitude, we pay closer attention to our inner landscape, our own soul, our own heart. Here, we listen to things that matter most to us. Solitude is thus an invitation to presence, appreciating the now of our lives.
There is a difference between solitude and loneliness. Loneliness is the inability to communicate the things that are important to us. In loneliness, we believe our views, experiences, and feelings are ours to shoulder alone, deemed inadmissible by others. Within this context, we feel isolated and silenced… even more lonely.
Solitude, by way of contrast, is experienced when we are at home on our own; comfortable with, and interested in, our thoughts and feelings; at peace with our singularity; and—when inspired—able to share these personal aspects of Self with others.
Solitude allows a conversation with the deeper parts of ourselves. It invites a sense of connection to the cosmos, creates a place of silence and communion with nature, provides a feeling of being at-one, overriding the usual boundaries that might obtain between Self and Other.
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Finding Self in Archetypes and Art
February 17, 2024
Artwork “The Warrior” – Collage by Darlene Derksen
Living Story Project is excited to share an upcoming, full-day workshop collaboration with multi-media, Winnipeg-based artist, Darlene Derksen, for our next event called: Finding Self in Archetypes and Art on February 17, 2024.
Darlene is a multi-media artist working in watercolour, acrylic, pen, ink, and cloth. Her work is personal. She was introduced to archetypes and collage by Nick Bantock’s art and books and has studied with him on numerous occasions. She learned unequivocally how fundamental it is to embrace the concept of archetypes if we are to gain a better understanding of ourselves.
Given the challenging times we face, it is becoming increasingly important that we learn to understand ourselves and the world around us symbolically in order to navigate overwhelm, find meaning, and live authentically. Luckily, at our disposal is the rich and multi-layered world of archetypes.
Archetypes are universal templates such as Artist, Teacher, Healer, and Child, that we colour with our individual expression as they unfold in the life we live. Arguably, all archetypes reside in each of us; however, we tend to have several specific archetypes that dominate our respective lives.
At every table, there is a family of survival archetypes that include the Victim, the Child, the Prostitute, and the Saboteur. Each of these archetypes is much more nuanced than the mainstream culture allows.
While understanding these specific survival archetypes is important for our individual and collective wellbeing, they alone do not give the full story of our lived experiences, longings, and desires. For that, we must venture inward to find— among the limitless number of archetypes—those that seek primary expression though us.
Through a series of intuition prompts and journaling exercises, participants will spend the first part of the day exploring the power of archetypes, while identifying archetypes that find, or are waiting to find, expression in their lives.
The second part of the day will have participants diving deeply into the process of collage to give visual representation to one central archetype they define as significant to their personal development and Self-understanding at this time.
While Darlene will teach techniques of application, participants, fueled by their intuitive awareness and Self-knowledge, will be encouraged to choose materials and images for their collage so that each interaction, visually and texturally, will be entirely unique and meaningful to them.
Date: Saturday, February 17, 2024
Time: 9:30AM – 3:30PM
Cost: $75.00
Location: Living Story Project House
1071 McMillan Ave.
Winnipeg, MB R3M 0T6
Link to Register: https://share.3common.com/event?id=finding-self-in-archetypes-and-art-659f191188041815fdb70bff
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Wise Woman in Challenging Times: Monthly In Person
January 22, 2024
Image courtesy of Kristy Taylor
Living Story Project is excited to share its first in-person, drop-in series called Wise Woman in Challenging Times. These evenings are stand alone events that centre around Wise Woman guiding principles. Some of the monthly topics include seeking connectedness, finding passion, expressing creativity, discerning enoughness, and the healing power of mirth.
Our evening will explore simplicity, and will be held on Monday, January 22nd from 7:00PM-9:00PM at the Living Story House.
For us, simplicity means an opportunity to stop and to filter out noises and distractions that are otherwise unhelpful.
It is an opportunity to figure out what is essential and what is incidental – an ongoing process where priorities are established and re-established as greater clarity is achieved. The more we simplify, the closer we get to what matters.
Simplicity helps us name what is true and what is meaningful in both our lives and in our relationships with one another, with Self, and with the Earth.
Please join us for this evening explorations aimed at helping us get closers to what matters in challenging times.
Participants can expect to journey introspectively though guided journaling prompts with an open invitation to share stories and insights with others.
Link to Register:
https://share.3common.com/event?id=65ad2f66c60fdf74b3cd1bcd
Date: Monday, January 22, 2024
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Cost: $25.00
Location: Living Story Project House - 1071 McMillan Ave. - Winnipeg, MB R3M 0T
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Mothering the Mother
January 11, 2024
Artwork by Jeanie Tomanek
www.jeanietomanek.com
Motherhood is complex.
Society does a very good job of celebrating the arrival of a new baby, but rarely does is pay much attention to the complexities this transition presents to the Daughter becoming Mother.
The transition into motherhood is easier for some than it is for others.
Some daughters enter motherhood with a supportive internalized mother – a quality of positive mothering that has been passed down through the generations. For her, while the demands of childrearing may prove exhausting, she enters motherhood with a sense of competency and preparedness. When faced with uncertainty or an overwhelming sense of not knowing, this daughter, having been sufficiently mothered herself, is able to ask, “What would mom do?”
She can draw on her own personal experience of being attended to in a way that met her developing needs as a child, an adolescent, and eventually a young adult, and thus securely meet the developing needs of her growing child. This daughter arrives at motherhood able to name her own needs and her desires; further, she is adept at meeting them. She understands that mothering is not meant to be self-sacrificial. If her mothering work is to be sustainable, she knows she must replenish her own resources, fill the vessel from which her own child must draw.
For many others, however, there is no supportive mothering legacy to inherit. Instead, these daughters arrive at motherhood having inherited the same lack of mothering their own mothers received. In constant need of mothering themselves, they feel anxious, uncertain, and ill-equipped to meet the demands that mothering presents.
When we arrive at mothering in this way, we are very susceptible to the societal standards that dictate what mothers and mothering “should” look like—namely that it should be joyfully self-sacrificing and rewarding. The pressure to achieve this standard dismisses the complexity of a daughter’s lived experience and further alienates her from her right to claim the unique and specific terms that identify her own motherhood.
Mothering the Mother is an eight-week, online, closed group, designed to explore the range of issues relevant to the unmothered mother.
This group will:
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Normalize the complexities and difficulties of mothering
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Examine systems that create the conditions that interfere and fail to support those who mother
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Understand, without blame, the mothering legacy that has been inherited by daughters
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Develop internal strategies that compensate for one’s lack of mothering received
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Redefine what healthy mothering looks like and feels like
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Build community among daughters and mothers
This group is open to anyone who identifies as Mother and/or Daughter and who wants to explore the legacy of their mothering, including those who mother others and those who wish to mother themselves.
The goal of this group is to deepen your understanding of Self. While this is largely a psycho-educational group, participants should expect to venture introspectively and share personal discoveries in both dyad and whole group formats. Due to the sensitive nature of this work, interested participants will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire to confirm suitability.
A waitlist will be maintained as needs be.
All group dates & times:
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Thursday, January 11 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, January 18 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, January 25 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, February 1 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, February 8 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, February 15 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, February 22 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, February 29 | 7:00PM-9:00PM
Location: Zoom
Fees: $195.00 – Limited number of subsidized spots available. To inquire, please contact us directly at livingstoryproject@gmail.com
Register: Mothering-the-mother.eventbrite.ca
Artwork by Jeanie Tomanek, Living Story, www.jeanietomanek.com
Poster Design by GDS Media
For further infomation, contact Living Story Project:
Email: livingstoryproject@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingStoryProject/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/living.story.project/
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Meeting the Baba Yaga: Connecting with the Wise Woman Archetype
October 12, 2023
Poster Design by GDS Media
Wise Woman has many forms of expression. She is everywhere in the imaginary and in the everyday. In myth, she may be known as Witch, Crone, Spider Grandmother, Hecate, Baubo, or Sophia. She may live alone in a house that dances on chicken legs. She might bubble up in a cauldron or fly through the night sky.
She might sit beside you in a coffee shop or suggest a book title while you browse aimlessly in a library. Often, she is found in the observations of a child.
Intimately connected to the phases of the moon and the cycles of the seasons, Wise Woman is mentor to the mother and sidekick to the maiden.
She knows how to slow down, finds pleasure in simplicity, understands the healing power of humour, and has profound compassion for the Earth and all who inhabit it.
She is the seed-saver — the one who preserves and protects. She is a seer: past-sighted, present-sighted, and far-sighted.
She is fiercely loyal and equally cutting. She protects life and allows what is dying to die.
Wise Woman is made wise by many things: through study, creative collaboration, observation and, most significantly, by having lived deeply into all of life’s experiences. This growing involves many layers of understanding — both above and below ground.
Living Story Project is pleased to offer an eight week, in-person intensive that explores the wisdom embodied in the Wise Woman archetype. Using myth and story, participants can expect to explore both inner and outer landscapes to deepen their ability to move more authentically, creatively, and purposefully in the world – bridging the connection to Self and to one another.
This group will be limited to ten (10) participants only. A waitlist will be maintained as needed.
All group dates & times:
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Thursday, October 12th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, October 19th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, October 26th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, November 2nd | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, November 9th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, November 16th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, November 23rd | 7:00PM-9:00PM
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Thursday, November 30th | 7:00PM-9:00PM
Location: Living Story Project House
Fees: $250.00 | Limited number of subsidized spots available.
Please contact us directly at livingstoryproject@gmail.com
As always, we look forward to sharing this exploration with you.
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
For further information, contact Living Story Project:
Email: livingstoryproject@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingStoryProject/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/living.story.project/
Mothering the Mother: Six Week In Person Group
May 23, 2023
Poster Art by Krishna Lalbiharie
Transitioning into motherhood is complex.
Society does a very good job of celebrating the arrival of a new baby, but rarely does is pay much attention to the complexities this transition presents to the woman becoming Mother.
The transition into motherhood is easier for some than it is for others.
Some women enter motherhood with a supportive internalized mother – a quality of positive mothering that has been passed down through the generations that have come before her. For her, while the demands of childrearing may prove exhausting, she enters motherhood with a sense of competency and preparedness. When faced with uncertainty or an overwhelming sense of not knowing, this woman, having been sufficiently mothered herself, is able to ask, “What would mom do?” She can draw on her own personal experience of being attended to in a way that met her developing needs as a child, an adolescent, and eventually a young adult, and thus securely meet the developing needs of her growing child. This woman arrives at motherhood able to name her own needs and her desires; further, she is adept at meeting them. She understands that mothering is not meant to be self-sacrificial. If her mothering work is to be sustainable, she knows she must replenish her own resources, fill the vessel from which her own child must draw.
For many others, however, there is no supportive mothering legacy to inherit. Instead, these women arrive at motherhood having inherited the same lack of mothering their own mothers may have received. In constant need of mothering themselves, they feel anxious, uncertain, and ill-equipped to meet the demands the role of mothering presents.
When we arrive at mothering in this way, we are very suspectable to the societal standards that dictate what mothers and mothering “should” look like—namely that it is joyfully self-sacrificing and rewarding. The pressure to achieve this “standard,” dismisses the complexity of a woman’s lived experience and further alienates her from her right to claim the unique and specific terms that identify her own motherhood.
Mothering the Mother is a six-week, in-person, closed group, designed to explore the range of issues relevant to the unmothered mother.
This group will:
-
Examine systems that create the conditions that interfere and fail to support those who mother
-
Understand, without blame, the legacy that has been inherited
-
Normalize the complexities and difficulties of mothering
-
Redefine what joyful mothering looks like and feels like
-
Teach strategies that support the mothering journey
-
Build community among mothers
This group is open to anyone who identifies as Mother at any stage of the mothering journey – including those who wish to one day become mother, presently expectants mothers, mothers of young children, and mothers of adult children (including grandmothers).
This group will be limited to eight participants only. A waitlist will be maintained as needs be.
The goal of this group is to deepen your understanding of Self as Mother. While this is largely a psycho-educational group, participants should expect to venture introspectively and share personal discoveries in both dyad and whole group formats. Due to the sensitive nature of this work, interested participants will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire to confirm suitability.
Dates: January 19th, 26th, February 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Location: Living Story Project House – 1071 McMillan Ave, Winnipeg MB
Fees: $195.00 – Limited number of subsidized spots for single mothers. Please contact us directly at livingstoryproject@gmail.com
Link to Register:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mothering-the-mother-tickets-420964374777
As always, we look forward to sharing this exploration with you.
Please join us,
Kristy & Debbie
Living Story Project 🌱
Poster Art by Krishna Lalbiharie
For further information, contact Living Story Project:
Email: livingstoryproject@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingStoryProject/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/living.story.project/
The Mothering Project
November 24, 2022
Artwork: Planting Moon by Jeanie Tomanek www.jeanietomanek.com
THE MOTHERING PROJECT
Living Story Project is hosting nine, monthly, by-donation events. Each month will illuminate a new understanding of Mother and Mothering in relation to culturally relevant topics that connect us to self, others, and the earth.
Registration for each monthly session will be available on the 1st of every month. Participants may attend any or all these evening sessions. We will meet on Zoom for this 2022-2023 series.
Mothering embodies three fundamental elements: Nurturance, Protection, and Guidance. Our November 24 th session will focus on Nurturance.
Nurturance comprehends emotional, physical, and spiritual care. It plays a vital role in fostering all aspects of our growth and developmental wellbeing. The ways we have been nurtured lay the groundwork for creative expression, empathetic and meaningful connections with others and the planet.
The November 24th session will include:
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Small and large group discussion
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Journaling
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Movement
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Visualization
Please bring writing materials, a candle to light our virtual fire, and a blanket or shawl.
This is a by-donation event open to all people.
Registration for the November 24th session is now open.
Link to register: http://the-mothering-project-november.eventbrite.ca
The Mothering Project is inspired by the profound need to create time and space for mentoring conversations that reveal the inherent power we possess. In so doing, we reclaim and create truer, more complete stories that enshrine and ensure our right to actively participate in the shaping our own destinies.
GATHERING THE BONES: Skeleton Woman - Creativity and Healing in Community
March 24, 2022
Artwork: Skeleton Woman by Jeanie Tomanek
www.jeanietomanek.com
This is a tale about the importance of community in relation to creativity and healing, a process that requires a certain courage, ingenuity, and attentiveness. Learning to work with the Life/Death/Life cycle, the essence of creativity, teaches us about the stages of creative action- animation, development, decline and reanimation. Being in vital relation to our own imagination, to others, and within community, we discover creativity, not only as a solitary act, but also one that restores, inspires, and deepens our capacity for connection and well-being.
Like Spring, preparing for the great revelation of new growth, we too find ourselves longing for renewal in these difficult times where hope is so often buried in indifference, short sightedness, and disconnection.
GATHERING THE BONES: The Handless Maiden
September 23, 2021
Image by Pantovola, La Loba
poster adaptation by Krishna Lalbiharie
“Traditional psychology is often spare or entirely silent about deeper issues important to women: the archetypal, the intuitive, the sexual and cyclical, the ages of women, a woman’s way, a woman’s knowing, her creative fire.”
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves
Understanding story from the inside out, from the bones to the flesh, reveals those indestructible elements that cannot be eradicated by oppressive forces. This grid, an underlying architecture, hold fragments, parts of the psyche, that comprehend knowing often prohibited or forbidden, but accessible nonetheless by instinct and intuition, whose retrieval brings us back to wholeness.
Please joins us for a six-week series exploring the symbolic journey of The Handless Maiden through the underground forest—an initiation into our own unknown and most authentic Self.
“In our own story, there is very little setting – but as it is typical in many northern European fairy tales, the dark enchanted forest is the most significant place, and it is, as always, the place in which the greatest transformation can be attained, by walking into the heart of the Mystery.”
~ Dr. Sharon Blackie, This Mythic Life
The Handless Maiden is a profound story about power, identity, and the courage to reclaim that which has been wrongfully taken.
The tale is a gruesome one. It involves not only the severing of the Maiden’s hands, but also the loss of the only world she has ever known. And yet, in travelling with the Handless Maiden and watching her suffer this dismemberment, we discover the depth of her insight, the range of her resources, the strength of her spirit, and the path that ultimately leads to re-growth.
In this series, we explore themes of wandering, endurance, and transformation. The quest within provides strategies and a map for how we, too, might encounter and triumph over our own psychic severing. Undertaking this journey, encourages us to access our creative center while piecing ourselves back together, bone by bone.
TIMES OF CHANGE: Toads, Transitions, and Transformation
April 21, 2021
Image of toad by Josch13 from Pixabay
Please join us for our next by-donation, on-line Living Story Project event, which we now happily call a meeting of The Story Society. This evening, Times of Change: Toads, Transition, and Transformation, will be held on Thursday, April 22nd from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.
Toads are wise mentors, able to adapt and thrive in any ecosystem and endure extremes of temperature. Long storied in myth and fable, they are celebrated as shapeshifters, skin shedders, teachers of magic and metamorphosis, visionaries, and healers. Through story and conversation, we will explore how the gifts of toad may help guide and support us as we transition through the times of COVID.
MOTHERING OURSELVES: Trusting Our Inner Truth
March 16, 2021
Photo by Elisabeth Waldman
Exploring, nurturing, and celebrating our Inner Mother encourage us to embrace with unconditional love who we are in this moment. It involves acceptance of what has often been maligned in culture, dismissed by systems, redesigned by industry. We are not to be “improved” by market standards of performance and beauty; deemed “acceptable” because we meet some future goal defined by commercial targets. We are not broken. We do not need fixing. Within, we have the resources, strength, insight, and intuition to call our name, to discern our gift, to tell our truth, and find our path.
Please join us as we harvest the wisdom of the Inner Mother through story, movement, and conversation. As always, we track and trust the heart of the matter.
NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY:
An Evening of Story and Conversation
March 11, 2021
Image by Vasilisa Bushueva, Fantastic Forest
Please join us for an evening as we gather around a virtual fire and share our living stories about the journey we have taken during these past 12 months. The space being held for this exploration invites you to share, listen, and contemplate losses and discoveries generated by this unprecedented time in our lives.
Sharing stories in community is medicine for body and soul. The first event that Living Story Project hosted centered around Wise Woman and her guiding principles – finding connectedness and accepting the inevitability of change seem especially relevant.
This evening is dedicated to the interconnectedness of our experience and understanding.
Our Great Cosmic Mother
February 13, 2021
Artwork by Jeanie Tomanek, Star Quilt
Poster adaptation by Krishna Lalbiharie
“The Great Mother in Her many aspects—maiden, raging warrior, benevolent mother, death-dealing and all-wise crone, unknowable and ultimate wyrd—is now powerfully re-emerging and rising again in human consciousness … Isis, Mawu-Lisa, Demeter, Gaia, Shakti, Dakinis, Shekhinah, Astarte, Ishtar, Rhea, Freya, Nerthus, Brigid, Danu—call Her what you may—has been with us from the beginning and awaits us now,”
~Monica Sjöö & Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother
The Great Mother is the wine of life, the mother of all living things. She is the green Earth, the mysteries of the waters. She is the creative force, the primogenitor of wave, tide, and wind.
While we commonly associate Mother to Child, she is not limited to the convention of childbirth, and childrearing. In her saltwater cauldron gestates idea, art, music, dance, invention in the broadest sense – Life. She is maker, illuminator, muse. She is who we can turn to in time of need, as, in her light, she is compassionate, merciful, and loving. She is an advocate of connection, fusion, and relationship to Self, others, and the creative process within.
Please joins us as we explore the creative energies embodied in the Mother archetype, what happens to our creative process when those energies feel as though they have been extinguished, and how, in these times, we may reignite our creative Self.
Collaborative guests:
Odette Heyn C.M. Red with Grace Choreography: Stephanie Ballard
Marci Wenn, LCSW-R, Soul Collage© Facilitator
THE HANDLESS MAIDEN:
Initiation in the Underground Forest
November 15, 2020
Art by Jeanie Tomanek, Silver Hands
Poster adaptation by Krishna Lalbiharie
“In our own story, there is very little setting – but as it is typical in many northern European fairy tales, the dark enchanted forest is the most significant place, and it is, as always, the place in which the greatest transformation can be attained, by walking into the heart of the Mystery,”
~Dr. Sharon Blackie, This Mythic Life
Please joins us as we explore the symbolic journey of the Handless Maiden.
This is a profound story about power, identity, and the courage to take one’s life into one’s own hands to reclaim that which has been wrongfully taken.
The tale is a gruesome one. It involves not only the severing of the Maiden’s hands, but also the loss of the only world she has ever known. And yet, in travelling with the Handless Maiden and watching her suffer this dismemberment, we discover the depth of her insight, the range of her resources, the strength of her spirit, and the path that ultimately leads to re-growth.
In this workshop, we explore themes of wandering, endurance, and transformation. The quest within The Handless Maiden provides both strategies and a map for how we, too, might encounter and triumph over our own psychic severing. Undertaking this journey encourages us to access our creative center and realize our most authentic Self.
BLUEBEARD:
Key to Knowing the Saboteur
September 17, 2020
Poster adaptation by Krishna Lalbiharie
“In order to banish the predator, we must unlock or pry ourselves and other matters open to see what is inside. We must use our abilities to stand what we see. We must speak our truth in a clear voice. And we must be able to use our wits to do what needs be about what we see,”
~Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves
The story of Bluebeard explores a crisis in culture pervasive in contemporary society. For thousands of years, women’s power, creativity, insight, and knowing have been written out of history. Women have been maligned, muzzled, and murdered by patriarchal predators who contend that women have no integrity of vision, no deep insight, no original voice, and no decisive action.
We all pay a price when women are diminished. Devastating global imbalances —there are many — demonstrate this truth. In Bluebeard, women are hunted and held captive by predatory forces; their freedom depends on discovering the key that unlocks their inner resources — resources long buried, but not destroyed.
In this workshop, we explore these predatorial forces as those that sabotage women’s rights to live fully. In examining both the light and dark aspects of the Saboteur archetype, we track processes of entrapment and liberation. This tracking allows us to ask questions; it exposes the rules, regulations, and conventions that are malignant, divisive, and life-denying within culture.
BLUEBEARD:
Tracking the Saboteur
April 18, 2020
Poster adaptation by Krishna Lalbiharie
Bluebeard tells the tale of sabotage—both from within and from without. It speaks of a predatory force, known as the Saboteur. This force is in all of us and can make its presence known anywhere…whether it be in the marketplace, the local bar, the classroom, or in the privacy of one’s own mind.
The Saboteur remains alert, watchful, anticipating our next step, thinking it knows best, and is therefore more able than we are to direct our attention, define our goals, and describe our longings. But the objects of our desire as devised by the Saboteur are fool’s gold, which always proves subversive and destructive.
This incredibly powerful force is one we must reckon: “It is a derisive and murderous antagonist that is born into us, and even with the best parental nurture the intruder’s sole assignment is to attempt to turn all crossroads into closed roads,”
~Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves
All is not lost, however. There are ways to track the Saboteur. By discerning its approach, its strategies, the gaps in its logic, and discovering our inner resources, we can call into play the forces designed to challenge its seductive power. In so doing, we bring the Saboteur out from the shadows of our unawareness and into the light of our better knowing.
In a supportive and nurturing environment, this one-day workshop will explore:
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how myth provides insight into our life stories and psyches
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how we get in our own way and therefore undermine our capacity to achieve goals
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how to develop intuitive sight to see red flags for the dangers they represent.
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how to discover choices where none seemed to exist
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how to trust ourselves to follow paths that are most authentic and life giving.
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how prevailing and seemingly inevitable forces, habits, and conventions diminish the capacity to live fully and in our power.
OLD WOMAN:
Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype I
January 25, 2020
Image by Susan Seddon Boulet, Spider Woman
Poster adaptation by Krishan Lalbiharie
Old Woman, once banished, is resurfacing in the lives of people — young and old — within culture and in relation to the earth.
While long discarded, she has never quite gone away. Perhaps you know her symbolically as Witch, Crone, Spider Grandmother, Hecate, Baubo or Sophia. Intimately connected to the phases of the moon and the cycles of the seasons, she is mentor to the mother and sidekick to the maiden.
She is the one who knows how to slow down, finds pleasure in simplicity, understands the healing power of humour, and has profound compassion for the earth and all who inhabit it. She is the seed-saver — the one who preserves and protects. She is a seer: past-sighted, present-sighted, and far-sighted.
Wise Woman is made wise by many things: through study, creative collaboration, observation and, most significantly, by having lived deeply into all her life experiences. This growing involves many layers of understanding — both above and below ground.
Wise Woman can manifest in many ways. She may live alone in a house that dances on chicken legs. She might bubble up in a cauldron or fly through the night sky. She might sit beside you in a coffee shop or suggest a book title while you browse aimlessly in a library. She is everywhere. She is also within.
Old Woman: Myths and Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype invites you to reconnect with old woman wisdom, to reimagine aging and rediscover the profound importance of mentoring relationships between old and young.