As part of my year end / new year ritual I am in the habit of consulting a few oracles that I find interesting and sometimes challenging.   For me, it’s a way of inviting information into my life.

My method is not very elaborate nor official.  I randomly choose two cards, one from the Medicine Card deck and one Angel Card and then I read interpretations of the card and write about them in my journal.

I’m always struck by the stories that are connected to these symbols.  For example, the Medicine Card that I pulled was number 44, Hummingbird - Joy. The description starts:

Hummingbird is associated with the Ghost Shirt religion, which taught that a certain dance done properly would bring about the return of the animals, and that white people would disappear.  Once again the Original People would know the joy of the old ways.  In Mayan teachings, Hummingbird is connected to the Black Sun and the Fifth World <more stories>. Hummingbird can give us the medicine to solve the riddle of the contradiction of duality.

Being a white person that would disappear in order to cause other’s joy, I have to read another message into this story, one that applies to my life. Hummingbird inspires us to protect the environment and to preserve old traditions that are in danger of being lost.

That’s the real benefit of using stories; they give you the opportunity to interpret information in ways that make sense to you.  It may require a little digging but the lesson is firmly planted by the effort.

My Angel Card was Adventure.  That seemed pretty obvious.  I’m going to have a joyful adventurous year and I wish the same to everyone!

There are many more decks of divinitory cards, you can check out some Tarot cards here

This summer you could be enjoying the cool days of Canada and participating in a five day storytelling conference, International Perspectives on the Art and Tradition of Storytelling. Plus, history buffs can partake in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of English settlement on the island of Newfoundland.

The theme of the conference put on by the Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada, is”Picture it. Summer 2010″.

This is the description from their blog:

Storytellers from throughout the world will merge in one place - St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – for the 18th annual conference of Storytellers of Canada. For five days, participants will be engaged in an international meeting place of culture, art, and tradition with performances and workshops by storytellers from Canada, the United States, Italy, South Africa, Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland and England.

This summer’s conference is brimming with opportunities for professional development. Participants will learn international perspectives about the art and tradition of storytelling. They will gain marketable skills to help them with the business side of their storytelling performances and teaching. Most importantly, they will be immersed in the story telling and story sharing of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For centuries, we’ve opened our doors to people from throughout the world. We’ve shared stories of mermaids swimming at sea, fairies hiding in woods, and mummers visiting our homes. Participants will be invited to listen to our stories and music; meet our people; explore our rocky coastline; and attend celebrations for the 400th anniversary of English settlement in Cupids, a community within an hour’s drive from St. John’s.

So plan ahead for your get-out-of-the-heat excursion.  The dates are Wednesday, July 28 to Sunday, August 1, 2010.

Author, storyteller, poet, teacher, and Poet Laureate of Kansas, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., will be in Tucson on a book tour this weekend and you might want to hear this dynamic and creative woman.  I spoke with Caryn on the phone yesterday.  She was in a coffee shop in chilly Lawrence, KS, I was home in sunny Tucson, just one of the reasons she’s excited about visiting our town.

Caryn is the founder of Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College. According to their website,

Transformative language arts is a new and emerging academic field focused on social and personal transformation through the power of the written, spoken, or sung word. Drawing on all of the language arts, transformative language artists bring the language arts to community-building, cultural and ecological restoration, personal development, and many other areas of individual and collective liberation.

Transformative Language Arts  include storytelling, writing, theater, spoken word  – anything with words out loud and on the page.   Caryn is also a member of the Healing Story Alliance, a special interest group of the at National Storytelling Network, the purpose of which is to “explore and promote the use of storytelling in healing”

Caryn sees storytelling as one way to bring communities together.  She told me about an experience she had organizing a political  group of very diverse people.  The way the group found what action it made sense to take was when all 60 people told each other their stories.  It was a way to understand the motives and history of each other, dispelling prejudice and making the group more cohesive.

On her website there is a reference to Tikkun Olam, a tradition in Judaism stating that the world is broken and it’s our job to help repair it. According to My Jewish Learning it has “come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice”.  According to Caryn, the way people make lasting transformations in their lives and heal the world is through story.  If people can learn from the stories they are living they can use storytelling and writing to change their lives for the better.

You can catch Caryn at the following venues for the next 3 days:

Friday, January 15 at 7 p.m., readings from The Sky Begins at Your Feet and Landed at Silver Bells Trader at 7119 N Oracle Rd, 520/797-6852.

Saturday, January 16 at 6 p.m., following Havdallah Service, “Finding the Sky That Begins At Our Feet As We Change and Age,” reading and ceremonial writing at Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Rd., 520/327-4501.

Sunday, January 17 at 10 a.m., “Landed: Poetry, Wonder and the Power of the Word to Land Us in Our Own Hearts,” at Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Rd., 520/327-4501.

Sunday, January 17 at 2 p.m., Harvest Y Courtyard (5th Ave. and University) “Coming Home to Earth, Sky, Body and Community: A Reading with Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Special Guest Jefferson Carter” sponsored by Sky Island Alliance.