With in a herd of deer you will find that the female matriarch is the story teller. The story has to be a story because it is also the time keeper and a place holder, so much information that it needs a story to hold it all together. In the case of the female matriarch this is a story of what ripens when and where. What food will be available at what time of the year and what place and how that fits in with the other places. To tell the story she takes her herd through the journey of it and of course the discourse is always shifting depending on the weather, the environment, the other players who wander in and out. The patriarch of the herd has his role, but it’s not the weaving of knowledge that feeds and sustains and keeps the herd alive. That is the matriarchs job and it is her job to pass it down, to tell the story over and over so that this knowledge is not lost.
O thank you! I'm so happy that it reached you in that way today--that's what every writer hopes--to send out our thoughts like webs into the ether and hope they might land with someone else. Thanks so much for reading.
Thank you for taking that interview in such an entirely different and mind-opening direction! What she said about being many women struck me hard (so did many things in that piece), but you've opened it up to look at the histories that were already there, and the possibilities for more, in ways I never would have expected or known to look for.
This line in particular is one I'm going to be thinking about a lot more: "We don’t have to abandon the linear stories that become immortal, but we can’t also lose sight of infinity—that through that origin of spoken word story there is something wise and tested." Somehow in an interview I did earlier this year, Jordan Petersen and the original YouTube videos he made (based on Joseph Campbell's works on myths) came up. What occurred to me then -- aside from "ugh no, not Jordan Peterson" -- was that I can see why the hero's journey appeals to so many, but that I thought they were missing a big part of what is found in fairy tales, folk tales, and mythologies. Maybe this line of yours is a compass-needle pointing to what's missing. The meandering, the braided narrative, the stories that get passed on and change and evolve, the ways that storytellers of all kinds can learn from and adapt to one another. It's even like scientific investigation, which is in its main about curiosity and collaboration. Though "collaborative" feels like such a dry word these days. More like what a river ecosystem is and does, which surely has a better word than "collaborative"?
I love the idea of braided river systems--yes! It's funny--I hit on that line from the interview too, but it did lead me thinking about the containers we are forced to fit into, whether through story or identity--society is so damned intent on containing. and I get it--chaos is not helpful to anyone. But so tired of not seeing more beyond it, or seeing it and ignoring it. Love to hear your thoughts on it, thanks so much for reading and writing.
That’s what I liked about this essay of yours, it took what was a good observation and opened it up further. What she pointed out is important, and it’s even more important to keep going with that, to see what it has meant and can mean. Thank you!
With in a herd of deer you will find that the female matriarch is the story teller. The story has to be a story because it is also the time keeper and a place holder, so much information that it needs a story to hold it all together. In the case of the female matriarch this is a story of what ripens when and where. What food will be available at what time of the year and what place and how that fits in with the other places. To tell the story she takes her herd through the journey of it and of course the discourse is always shifting depending on the weather, the environment, the other players who wander in and out. The patriarch of the herd has his role, but it’s not the weaving of knowledge that feeds and sustains and keeps the herd alive. That is the matriarchs job and it is her job to pass it down, to tell the story over and over so that this knowledge is not lost.
love this, thank you for reading and sharing.
This is truly truly brilliant. Thank you SO much for these articulations. They are giving me life right now. #medicine #brilliance #truth
O thank you! I'm so happy that it reached you in that way today--that's what every writer hopes--to send out our thoughts like webs into the ether and hope they might land with someone else. Thanks so much for reading.
Thank you for taking that interview in such an entirely different and mind-opening direction! What she said about being many women struck me hard (so did many things in that piece), but you've opened it up to look at the histories that were already there, and the possibilities for more, in ways I never would have expected or known to look for.
This line in particular is one I'm going to be thinking about a lot more: "We don’t have to abandon the linear stories that become immortal, but we can’t also lose sight of infinity—that through that origin of spoken word story there is something wise and tested." Somehow in an interview I did earlier this year, Jordan Petersen and the original YouTube videos he made (based on Joseph Campbell's works on myths) came up. What occurred to me then -- aside from "ugh no, not Jordan Peterson" -- was that I can see why the hero's journey appeals to so many, but that I thought they were missing a big part of what is found in fairy tales, folk tales, and mythologies. Maybe this line of yours is a compass-needle pointing to what's missing. The meandering, the braided narrative, the stories that get passed on and change and evolve, the ways that storytellers of all kinds can learn from and adapt to one another. It's even like scientific investigation, which is in its main about curiosity and collaboration. Though "collaborative" feels like such a dry word these days. More like what a river ecosystem is and does, which surely has a better word than "collaborative"?
I love the idea of braided river systems--yes! It's funny--I hit on that line from the interview too, but it did lead me thinking about the containers we are forced to fit into, whether through story or identity--society is so damned intent on containing. and I get it--chaos is not helpful to anyone. But so tired of not seeing more beyond it, or seeing it and ignoring it. Love to hear your thoughts on it, thanks so much for reading and writing.
That’s what I liked about this essay of yours, it took what was a good observation and opened it up further. What she pointed out is important, and it’s even more important to keep going with that, to see what it has meant and can mean. Thank you!