Today I’m chatting with Elinor Predota, a storyteller, singer, Interfaith Minister and Priestess from southern Scotland, the coldest wettest place in Britain.
Elinor’s work with others involves the creation and telling of stories; one-to-one spiritual counselling, coaching and direction; retreats, classes and workshops; and the magic of ritual and ceremony.
All of what she does is rooted in a practice of deep presence and listening, creating a welcoming space in which all feelings, all perspectives, all identities, all experiences, all responses and reactions — whether expected or unexpected, pleasant or challenging — may find a home.
Enjoy our ramble through the fairytale The Golden Bird and Elinor’s relationship with her body and creativity.
Things we chatted about in this episode:
- the fairytale The Golden Bird (French version of the Russian Firebird story)
- how the story has all the classic adventure elements (adventure, a princess, talking animals) but also has some mysterious elements
- on the spiritual lesson of removing a hill in 8 days
- how it’s such a rich story that it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to tell properly
- how the story relates to the three parts of the soul and the initiation process
- how stories can find their way into your bones
- how wondertales and fairytales are so richly deep and meaningful, so much more than just children’s stories
- how fairytale logic is dreamlogic, and it helps us access a dreaming consciousness while being still awake
- the bird, the horse and the person that the young man has to fetch in the story as being representative of the soul
- surviving a housefire
- living with fibromyalgia and chronic depression and how to put oneself back together
- relationship with creativity
- how her loss of creative enthusiasm tells her depression is rising up
- Elinor’s belief that it’s not depression that’s the source of the richness of the creativity, but that engaging creativity to overcome depression is the source of the richness of the creativity
- creativity as a source of nourishment
- multimedia work, embroidery with wildflowers, tactile body-based art-making
- how being creative draws and connects the inner and outer life together, how it’s a very rich process
- relationship with body
- spending an early childhood above her body
- not knowing how to be here in a body in a practical sense (managing time/money/schedules)
- how becoming an Interfaith Minister led to more presence and capability in the material world
- how having fibromyalgia complicates her relationship with her body but also offers lessons in surrendering and experience her present circumstances
- how her body is the source of her most important spiritual lessons
Resources from this episode:
- Anderson Faery Tradition of Witchcraft
- Jack Kornfield’s book A Path With Heart
- Ram Dass
- Chakras (great book on chakras is Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith)
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