Moments of magic

The Way I Work ~ Dawn Casey shares moments of magic, from the creation of her book Nature Tales.

My reverence for nature and my respect for the tales of old inspire a particular step in the way I work with traditional stories.

These ancient tales were first known by heart, and told by mouth, and that’s the way I like to share them too.

Because I tell stories orally to children and families, it’s important to me that the words I use are polished smooth – to roll off the tongue. So, one of the very first steps in my process, before I set a word on paper, is to speak the story ‘out of my mouth’ (as my children used to call it).

In Nature Tales, I’ve gathered stories to celebrate and honour the trees, the plants, the birds and the animals – the non-human beings whose presence enriches our lives. I love being friendly with the birds. I’m grateful for the gifts I receive from the plants. I cherish the teachings of the trees.

Apple Tree, for example, shows me how to live with generosity. The Apple Tree has given me not only delicious fruit, year after year, but also medicinal vinegar, wood to make buttons, leaves to dye fabric (a delicious shade of custard-yellow!).

So, I work in a spirit of reciprocity. If I’m crafting a folktale about a tree, I might offer that tree a song, or take a handful of seeds to scatter far and wide, to help its family grow – a gift of thanks for all I receive. One offering I always make is the story itself. The very first time I speak the tree story aloud is to the tree.

And, what I’ve found, when I work in this way, is magic…

It’s December. Dusk. I’m walking along the hedgerow, speaking the story of ‘Robin Redbreast and Jenny Wren’ – sharing it with the birds. I’ve already met Robin, at the first tree I passed. A round shape silhouetted against the sky, singing his soft sweet song from the bare branches. I wander… Winter-fields. Little patches of wood, deepening into shadow. And as the words that celebrate the shrill trill of the Wren leave my lips, I hear a sudden shout from the bush beside me. Peeking in through the leaves, I’m gifted a delightful sight: a family of baby wrens, bouncing round the branches, little balls of brown feathers, peeping at the top of their voices.

Often, I align my story-work with potent times in the cycle of the seasons, the high days and holy days of the year. I share the story of ‘The Bear of Heaven’ with the night, on the evening of the Winter Solstice, under a sky covered in cloud. As I speak the words announcing the birth of bear, the clouds part, and the stars of the Great Bear shine.

The story of ‘Little Red Squirrel’, I’ve agreed to share with the children at our annual community street party (in the orchard we planted a few years ago – another gift to the apple trees). Like the old woman in the story, I bake hazelnut cookies to share. As the biscuits bake, my daughter shouts from our dining room. There, sitting in the middle of the wooden floor, is a squirrel! He’s come in through the back door. He sits there, bright-eyed, looking up at us.

Some may say these moments are pure co-incidence.

But I choose a richer reality. I’m a lover of fairy-tales. Of course I believe in magic.

When I’m fully present in the moment, with my ears, eyes and heart open, I feel the story comes, not from me, but through me, and all I need to do is tilt my head and listen….

Later, I can craft, hone, polish, writing by hand in flowing ink. But for now, I allow the story to course through me. A moment of grace.

These old old stories, shared with love and offered with gratitude, are a kind of magic, an invocation, or an invitation, perhaps. A spell…

May these ancient stories bring the magic of nature into your family, your heart, and your world.

Nature Tales by Dawn Casey, illustrated by Anja Sušanj is out now in hardback, published by Templar Books, available from all good bookshops.

My thanks to both Dawn Casey and Courtney Jeffries at Templar, for making this Blog piece possible ~ Louise