Greetings good people,

The sun is shining, spring is springing and I have a range of online and in-person storytelling events throughout the spring...starting tonight!

Spring Equinox & the Gift of Fire

Spring equinox is a threshold. Winter makes way to summer, darkness to light. Dreaming shifts to doing. We spend a moment poised in balance.

Traditionally these moments in the year would have been marked, with ceremony, story, song, fire. Such a way of living keeps us tuned in to nature's rhythm and for me can be the distinction between being in some kind of 'flow state' or being in a constant frenzy of modern stress.

I'm delighted to bring this offering with Lana, whose music I've listened to for over a decade (with Anima), always offering an inspired, soothing quality. She's one of the architects behind the Weaving Remembrance courses I sometimes shout about, and runs pilgrimages through the special sites of Scotland. She spends a lot of time at stone circles under starlight, and somehow that's palpable when you meet her.

We're inviting people to a session tonight (Tuesday 7-9pm GMT), which is next to free (£3 concession price!) creating a moment of stillness, sound, myth and meditation, ahead of the summer cycle. If you need a moments rejuvenation to sustain you through the lighter half of the year this could be for you.

Sign up via:

https://www.alunahealingtemple.com/live-class/spring-equinox-fire/register

Hearth Fire Sessions on World Storytelling Day

If you prefer your storytelling to be live, in a comfortable theatre and potentially with musical accompaniment then this week's Hearth Fire Sessions in Edinburgh could be for you.

We kick off the Hearth Fire Sessions in 2025 with a stellar lineup for World Storytelling Day (March 20). Morvern Graham, Nell Phoenix and Kate Young will be joining me for. Having launched last year, Hearth Fire Sessions has become a regular highlight of the Edinburgh storytelling scene, and this one promises to be a belter.

This is a cracking lineup and I'm brewing a couple of stories that I've yet to tell to a live audience. Tickets are selling fast, and may sell out so get in quick if you want to join us.

Hearth Fire Tickets

https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:5916/913:25451/

If you'd like a flavour go Hearth Fire from afar, you can catch a live recording of me telling a story at the last session on my latest podcast episode:

Tales for our Times: Clever Wish

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tales-for-our-times/id1691719370?i=1000698844373

People of the Deer (Ireland mini tour)

I'll be in Ireland for the first half of April, with performances in Bray, Kerry, County Down, Antrim, Belfast and the Hill of Tara. I'll also be in Cork for the Yarnspinners on the 3rd.

As well as telling stories, I'm going on something of a pilgrimage to mythic sites associated with Ossian, Siabh, Amerghin and other characters of Celtic lore. I hope to cross paths with a seanachie or two and maybe even find myself whisked away by the faeries on occasion or two.

If you know of people and places to check out whilst there, bounce me a message. If you're in Ireland at that time, come and say hi!

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Wishing you a moment of balance and sweet emergence this spring equinox and beyond.

Dougie