Story Carriers
Traditional oral storytelling, 5 weeks of co-creation in community.
Thursdays, 7-9pm, fortnightly from 23rd July.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-convivial-x-sam-crosby-the-story-carriers-tickets-1991180142407
Communities have always told and retold stories. The stories gather weight, texture, and richness. They lay out maps of human experience, hold practiced wisdom from generations of experience and remind us how to love the places in which we live.
We’ve lost touch with the practice of storytelling. And in turn, we’ve lost touch with a vital aspect of ourselves. If that sounds grandiose, it’s only because we’ve got work to do in the modern era.
What are we telling ourselves about who we are?
What are we telling the world?
What is the world telling us?
How much of the art and beauty and ancient wisdom we long to express is locked up in our skeleton-closets of not-good-enough and people pleasing?
How often do we find ourselves desiring to sing our hearts out, or cry fat snotty tears, or dare to take up space in a group, shouting out poetry and the beauty in our souls among strangers… and denied ourselves because, ultimately, our culture is one of projecting competence and togetherness?
We – Sam Crosby (Recalling Fire), Sophie Craven (The Convivial) and possible mystery guests – suggest it’s time to explore a different avenue.
We’re inviting you to an oral storytelling group. We will be gathering a group of souls to find out what might happen if we show up regularly, in community, to tell stories in the old ways – with devotional attention to process over perfection, memory, imagination and place.
Held in The Convivial’s learning space, as well as outside in the Penryn woods during warm and hazy Summer evenings, we will develop ancient and new storytelling practices – from collaborative myth telling with stories from the beginning of time, to self-storytelling, to planting stories in ‘memory gardens’ throughout the woods.
We’re going to get past the idea of ‘being good’ or ‘being correct’ around mythology. We’re going to reclaim storytelling as the human birthright we’ve forgotten, seeding storytelling and story-carrying into the local community. We’re going to bump ourselves out of the loop of perfection and procrastination and allow ourselves to show up as imperfect, ‘scruffy storytellers’.
We will start with a simple premise through introducing and playing with storytelling practices. Sam is steeped in oral storytelling and mythology through his ongoing storytelling practice as well as deep work with Dr. Martin Shaw. Sophie studied story and myth throughout her MA Poetics of Imagination at Schumacher College. Sessions will begin with simple exercises to help us to get out of our own way – i.e., to unlearn the idea that we must show up perfectly, or not at all. Show up. Be scruffy, messy, forgetful. There is no ‘rehearsing’ – doing it is it.
And by the end, we’ll have wrapped our own unique life experience into some ancient stories, ready to pass them on to the next along the line. In a phrase, we’ll join the oral tradition.
Over 5 weeks, you can expect:
Ancient myth introduced by story-carriers to play with, work with, get down into. Consider it a softening, just enough that you can step in.
An open, daring group. Playful and sincere in turn. Coming back, time after time, to build continuity of connection and ‘soul friendship’ alongside the discovery of stories.
A tender, loving approach to depth.
Communally held practices around story (mythology in your body, in the space, not just your busy mind). Building the capacity for a myth-informed, sideways-perspective of the world. Myth-in-the-body as a divining tool for what to do next, how to meet challenge, how to be of service to loved ones in hard times or, as the pilgrim says, ‘to feast along the road’.
Live into different aspects of old stories, receiving the ancient information and, going deeper into moments of transition and transformation, not just for self but as blueprints for transformation in life, service, community and generations to come.
Challenges and guidance around ‘doing’ storytelling. Getting out of your own way. Risking it. Daring to meet self-consciousness with a bit of spiritual swagger. Stepping into an opportunity to live myth, rather than trying to be good at something. Releasing your attachment to outcomes.
One of the important aspects of this work is re-weaving. Consider ancient stories as inherited, precious heirlooms. They’ve barely made it to us, threadbare, fragile. Just vivid enough for us to see the images, just enough life in them for us to tend them. Devoted tellings, not just to ‘pick up’, but to restore and splice onto the threads of our own, modern existence.
Over the course of the group’s journey, our practices and techniques will evolve, change and grow – just as the stories we tell will also go through an evolution.
We don’t know what will happen. We’d like to find out.
Journey dates
23rd July
6th August
20th August (Memory garden)
3rd September
17th September
Tickets
We have an absolute capacity of 14 places. We would like those who come to be able to attend the majority of the sessions to allow for a layering and evolution.
When thinking about your contribution, reflect that your ticket cost will cover the cost of two facilitators, any mystery guests and the use of space - along with some refreshments. Please refer to the following suggestions when booking your place:
Low spare income - £50 (£10 per session)
Medium spare income - £75 (£15 per session)
High spare income - £100 (£20 per session)
Abundance ticket (fund a low-cost place) - £125 (£25 per session)
We also have two bursary tickets at £25, available to those experiencing greater systemic barriers to financial stability.
If cost remains a barrier, please reach out to The Convivial at hellotheconvivial@gmail.com.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-convivial-x-sam-crosby-the-story-carriers-tickets-1991180142407
Your facilitators
Sophie Craven
Find out more about Sophie’s work here:
Sam Crosby
And more about Sam’s work here: