Tales from the Hearth

With moonlit adventures and witchy revelations, this episode brings on Diana Helmuth, author of new nonfiction memoir "The Witching Year: A memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft" and award-winning "How to Suffer Outside: A Beginner's Guide to Hiking and Backpacking".

Diana Helmuth is a nonfiction author. Before delving into writing, she studied anthropology and Arabic at UC Berkeley and went on to moonlight in Silicon Valley's startup land as an operations manager for several seed-stage companies. Her first book, "How to Suffer Outside", won a National Outdoor Book Award, and her freelance work on travel, millennial cultural trends, and nature journalism can be found in various books and online magazines. When she's not writing, she helps produce the occasional podcast. Helmuth was born and raised in Northern California.

You can find "The Witching Year" (or both of Diana's books!) which is now available to purchase on the links at her website: https://www.dianahelmuth.com/

This episode was designed and edited by Sarah Buchynski.

We are less than a month away from the end of our crowdfunding campaign and only have 4 limited gift slots left. If you'd like to support, please head over to https://stormfireproductions.com/2023-storytelling-crowdfund/

Find us across our social media. Find your hearth.

Want to join the next creative co-working? Connect via our Discord server.

Thank you for listening.

Transcript (auto-generated by Descript)

We're trying something new.

Support the 2023 storytelling crowdfund and claim your gifts now. There are 2 limited higher-tier packages available, as well as our basic $7+ gift. We have until Halloween to reach $3200!

You can also see the video version (with captions) of this teaser on the crowdfund page, under "The Story" tab.

Ali is an overworked and underpaid scribe who dreams of being a voice of her generation. When her boss, a capricious and calculating god, asks Ali to take the fall for a seemingly innocuous mistake, she must decide if his promise of riches is worth burning out inside an ivory tower.

Listen now to "Ali and the Tower", a modern folk tale and audio short created, written, performed, and produced by Lisette Alvarez as a part of the Storyteller Project. Thank you to everyone who has supported, shared, and listened to the journey so far. We'll be back in November for Experiment #4.

All sound and music was sourced with a Creative Commons license at FreeSound.org.

Find us across our social media. Find your hearth.

Want to join the next creative co-working? Connect via our Discord server.

This is an experiment paid for by the Storyteller Project Fund. Help fund the next story. You can contribute now.

Thank you for listening.

Transcript

Here we seek the audio teaser vibes for "Ali and the Tower", our upcoming mini audio folk tale about an overworked scribe whose strength of will is tested by gods and ivory towers.

Sound and music sourced via a Creative Commons license at freesound.org.

See and share the moodboard across our social media. Find your hearth.

Tomorrow begins the actual script writing! Want to join the next 9AM and 12PM EST livestream and creative co-working? Connect via our Discord server.

This is an experiment paid for by the Storyteller Project Fund. We are trying to hit $100, or 50% of our goal today, and we're only $17 short! You can contribute now.

See and share the moodboard across our social media. Find your hearth.

Want to join the next 9AM and 12PM EST livestream? Connect via our Discord server.

This is an experiment paid for by the Storyteller Project Fund. We have until Monday to raise $200! We are already 42% of the way there. You can contribute now.

Transcript

WARNING: Unedited 30+ minute podcast episode ahead. Also mention of blood from a paper cut. Because apparently this particular folk tale requires blood sacrifice.

Welcome to the Storyteller's Workshop! For day one of the Storyteller Project, Lisette Alvarez conducted a collective tarot reading to inspire a new modern folk tale. By Monday, there will be a mini episode in this feed. Between now and then, however, you will get a mix of podcast episodes which include unedited workshopping, sample audio, and a trailer. That's because each day, Lisette will work for a set amount of time based on a part-time workload in their area. So this unedited episode? Didn't want to waste an hour there that could be put towards editing the final product. So you'll hear all the phone notifications, bumping of tables, ums and ahs and stutters. That's the messy work of the story sausage, my friend!

The decks used:

Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani

Next World Tarot by Christy C. Road

The final spread:

• The nature of the main character(s): The Magician

• The nature of the conflict: The Tower

• The nature of the motivation: Strength

• The antagonist: Ace of Cups

• The allies/skills needed: The Chariot

• What must be sacrificed: Seven of Cups

• The message: Ten of Wands

• A message from collective's shadow: Temperence

See and share the tarot spread across our social media. Find your hearth.

Want to join this week's daily 12PM EST livestream? Connect via our Discord server.

This is an experiment paid for by the Storyteller Project Fund. We have 5 days to raise $200! We are already 24% of the way there. You can contribute now.

Transcript (automated by Descript)

The seamstress must choose which dream she wants to live in...forever.

The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon is a modern folk tale written, performed, and produced by Lisette Alvarez. Stay tuned for the next experiment and collective tarot reading, beginning Friday, August 4th.

Transcript

Our determined seamstress dreams and weaves, and is nearing the end of both. What shall she do when the steward gives her the final spool of moonbeam?

The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon is a modern folk tale written, performed, and produced by Lisette Alvarez. The third and final part will premiere...soon.

Transcript

A seamstress, unlucky in love and unrecognized in talent, is commissioned to create a cloak of moonbeams.

This is the first of three parts of The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon, a new modern folk tale inspired by a collective tarot reading. You can visit the whole making of process by listening to the Experiment #2 episodes. Part Two will premiere...soon. You can read more about the change in direction, and--yes--lack of sound design, on the Stormfire Productions website here.

The story was written, performed, and produced by Lisette Alvarez.

Transcript

Oral storytelling is not a remnant of the past. It is gloriously alive. In this interview with a storyteller, Tracy Chipman shares an aspect of storytelling that is truly mythic.

Tracy Chipman uses she/her/they pronouns and resides in Northern Wisconsin occupying land belonging to the Anishinaabe peoples. She stepped onto the path of storyteller 27 years ago sharing her great love of this ancient art with folks throughout America and beyond. She courts and tells deep myth, traditional tales and personal narratives through an emerging, intuitive and performative lens. Tracy also shares her passion for story as a mentor/coach with those curious about stepping deeper into their power as storytellers and those keen to become more mythically aware, aligning with stories as allies for transformation.

She believes storytelling is a co-creative act capable of deep alchemy and forging transforming connections between humans, ourselves and the more-than-humans worlds.

Storytelling cultivates deep listening and opens our imaginations to imagine the unimaginable. She has just published her first book, Borealis Mundi - Resting in Place, Loss & Grace and is curious about the gifts orality can bring to the written word.

Links - www.tracychipman.net

Borealis Mundi - https://www.tracychipman.net/seasonal